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THE  TILDEN  CENTENNIAL 

CARNEGIE   HALL 

NEW   YORK 


SAMUEL   J.  TILDEN 

THE  GREAT  DEMOCRAT 


ADDRESS   OF   FRANCIS   LYNDE   STETSON 


10 


(Annotated) 


i 


»•  1914'..  r;1 


FROM    THE    PRESIDENT'S    OFFICE 
TO  THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 


SAMUEL  J.   TILDEN 

THE   GREAT   DEMOCRAT 


To  appreciative  sympathizers  like  James  C.  Carter  and 
the  speakers  of  this  evening,  the  name  of  Samuel  J.  Tilden 
suggests  a  statesman  in  the  highest  sense  ;  to  antipathetic 
but  fair-minded  historians  like  Professor  Burgess  (Recon 
struction  p.  282)  "  a  genuine  American  politician  of  the  first 
order ",  and  to  some  partisan  detractors  merely  a  political 
trickster.  Bat,  however  varying  the  views  as  to  his  rank 
in  the  political  world,  all  unite  in  recognizing  him  as  "  The 
Great  Democrat ".  (New  York  Sun  June  3,  1886.)  To  this 
designation  he  was  entitled  as  clearly  as  was  his  illustrious 
predecessor  Thomas  Jefferson  or  James  Madison,  who  was 
still  surviving  at  the  time  of  Tilden's  first  vote,  and  whose 
works  and  teachings  constituted  his  highest  political  author 
ity.  (Life  Vol.  1,  p.  166.) 

Born  February  9,  1814,  during  the  presidency  of  James 
Madison,  he  died  August  4,  1886,  under  that  of  Grover  Cleve 
land,  having  lived  seventy-two  years,  of  which  more  than 
one-half  had  been  during  Democratic  administrations 

From  first  to  last  he  devoted  himself  to  the  study  and  the 
discussion  of  the  tenets  of  the  Democracy,  for,  as  is  well 
said  in  the  Bookman  (March  1905)  : 

"  Born  with  a  body  so  frail  that  he  never  knew  a  day  of 
'  perfect  health,  he  had  no  boyhood,  but  even  as  a  child 
'  his  mind  was  given  wholly  up  to  the  mastery  of  government 
'  and  politics.  In  his  father's  home  he  heard  political  dis- 
*  cussions  between  some  of  the  most  adroit  and  wily  party 
'  managers  of  that  day.  By  the  time  when  he  was  fifteen 
1  years  of  age  he  was  as  well  informed  in  American  political 
'  history  as  any  one  of  those  whose  relevations  he  had  list- 
'  ened  to  so  eagerly." 

His  precocious  gravity  was  noted  by  his  life  long  friend 
William  Allen  Butler  in  a  memorial  prepared  for  the  New 
York  City  Bar  Association  in  December,  1886  : 

"  To  him  the  years  which  bring  the  philosophic  mind 
"  came  very  early.  In  my  acquaintance  with  him,  dating 

281115 


"  from  my  boyhood  and  continuing  through  the  friendship 
"  of  nearly  half  a  century,  I  found  him  unchanged,  from  first 
"  to  last,  in  this  absorbing  interest  in  public  affairs,  specially 
"  directed  to  their  right  administration,  according  to  the  ideas 
"  which  were,  to  him,  the  true  embodiment  of  the  principles 
"  of  good  government." 

Among  his  early  teachers  was  his  wise  father's  friend  and 
neighbor  Martin  Yan  Buren,  soon  to  become  President  of 
the  United  States,  to  whose  cause  and  advocacy  he  devoted 
himself  for  life,  and  Mr.  Butler's  father,  Benjamin  F.  Butler, 
Attorney-General  of  the  United  States.  Before  he  was 
twenty  years  of  age  he  wrote  the  first  three  articles  repro 
duced  by  Mr.  Bigelow  (1  Public  Writings  10-26),  all  of 
these  being  published  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Yan  Buren 
and  the  last  with  the  approval  of  Washington  Irving.  In 
their  gravity  and  acumen  they  revealed  the  qualities  which 
distinguished  the  career  of  Mr.  Tilden,  and  in  its  conclud 
ing  paragraph  the  last  article  foreshadowed  his  own  bitter 
experience,  not  unlike  that  of  the  maligned  Gladstone  who 
was  one  of  his  admirations.  (Life,  Yol.  2,  p.  338.) 

"  In  every  age  the  most  important  and  glorious  results  of 
"  virtue  and  of  talent  have  been  attributed  to  the  arts  of  in- 
"  trigue  or  the  aid  of  magic." 

After  a  short  sojourn  at  Yale  College,  in  1836  he  came  to 
the  City  of  New  York,  of  which  he  was  destined  for  fifty 
years  to  be  a  citizen  and  up  to  the  time  of  his  death,  its 
greatest  benefactor.  Graduating  from  the  first  class  in  the 
law  school  of  the  New  York  University  he  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  May  1841  and  immediately  opened  an  office  at 
No.  11  Pine  Street,  continuing  in  that  vicinity  until  he 
retired  from  practice.  Already,  and  as  early  as  February 
1838,  he  had  attained  recognition  as  a  political  writer  for 
the  Democratic  press,  and  as  author  of  the  resolutions  and 
political  addresses  issuing  from  Tammany  Hall.  In  the 
year  1838  he  formed  the  acquaintance  of  John  Bigelow, 
his  life  long  friend  and  biographer,  who  says  that  even 
then  Tilden's  mind  was  wholly  engrossed  in  practical 


politics  about  which  he  knew  so  much  and  talked  so 
well  as  often  to  weary  Bigelow,  who  cared  nothing  for 
them.  Through  Mr.  Bigelow  he  became  a  friend  of  William 
Cullen  Bryant  and  of  the  Evening  Post  coterie. 

His  first  important  speech  was  deemed  a  masterly  produc 
tion,  and  as  such  it  was  justly  accepted  and  published  through 
out  the  state Jby  the  Democratic  Committee.  It  was  delivered 
at  New  Lebanon  on  October  3rd,  1840,  when  he  was  twenty- 
six  years  old,  upon  the  United  States  Bank  and  the  cur 
rency,  a  topic  of  perennial  interest,  to  which  he  returned  in 
an  important  speech  in  the  Constitutional  Convention  of 
1846,  and  to  which  a  further  contribution  from  him  at  the 
present  day  would  be  of  vital  interest. 

The  five  years  succeeding  his  admission  to  the  bar  were 
devoted  to  the  support  of  Martin  Van  Buren  and  Silas 
Wright  and  to  the  development  of  his  law  practice  though 
as  once  he  said  to  me,  from  the  very  beginning  be  never 
had  any  small  business.  The  Anti-rent  wars  in  his  na 
tive  county  enlisted  his  attention  and  led  to  his  elec 
tion  to  the  Assembly  and  to  the  Constitutional  Conven 
tion  in  1846,  where  he  principally  contributed  to  the 
final  adjustment  of  these  difficulties.  During  the  same  period 
he  had  founded  and  given  to  his  associate  John  L.  O'Sullivan 
a  Democratic  daily  "  The  Morning  News  "  and  had  identified 
himself  with  the  free  soil  or  '*  soft  shell  "  Democrats,  who 
opposed  the  extension  of  slavery  into  the  free  territories.  In 
1848  he  wrote  the  address  to  the  Democrats  of  the  State  in 
support  of  the  Free  Soil  revolt  which  resulted  in  the  defeat 
of  Lewis  Cass  for  the  presidency,  the  bolters  in  the  State  of 
New  York  casting  more  votes  than  the  regulars.  In  1855 
he  was  candidate  of  the  "  soft  shell "  Democrats  for  Attor 
ney  General,  and  in  1867  he  was  a  member  of  the  Constitu 
tional  Convention.  He  was  delegate  to  the  Democratic 
National  Conventions  of  1844,  1848,  1860,  1864,  1868,  con 
tending  invariably  for  freedom,  for  Union  and  for  reform. 


Repeatedly  baffled  in  his  efforts  to  face  the  Democratic  party 
in  a  direction  which  he  knew  would  lead  to  success,  he 
patiently  accepted  defeats  within  the  organization  and  gave 
himself  unselfishly  to  its  continuous  service,  recognizing  and 
insisting  upon  the  necessity  of  maintaining  in  proper  con 
stitutional  opposition,  a  party  which  even  in  the  dark  days 
of  1864  cast  forty-six  per  cent,  of  the  vote  in  the  Northern 
States.  He  was  consistently  opposed  to  nullification,  to 
the  extension  of  slavery  and  to  secession  audits  supporters, 
as  shown  in  1860  at  the  dinner  at  Mr.  Aspinwall's,  in  1861 
at  the  meeting  at  the  home  of  General  Dix,  in  1862  in  his 
interview  with  Secretary  Stanton,  and  his  declaration  in 
behalf  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  in  1866  at  the  Union 
Square  meeting,  all  set  forth  in  Mr.  Bigelow's  Life 
(Vol.  1,  pp.  165-174).  In  1862  he  prepared  a  manifesto 
for  the  New  York  Democracy  with  these  words  of  inflexi 
ble  warning  to  Southern  disunionists  : 

"  We  will  give  you  everything  that  local  self-government 
demands ;  everything  that  a  common  ancestry  of  glory, 
everything  that  national  fraternity  or  Christian  fellowship 
requires  ;  but  to  dissolve  the  federal  bond  between  these 
states  to  dismember  our  country,  whoever  else  consents,  we 
will  not.  No  ;  never,  never,  never  !  "  (l) 

In  1866  he  took  the  chairmanship  of  the  Democratic 
State  Committee  which  he  held  until  nominated  for 
Governor  in  1874  ;  and,  by  his  inflexible  maintenance  of 
the  public  interests,  he  earned  the  bitter  hatred  and  the 
never  failing  opposition  of  the  spoilsmen  and  corruptionists 
in  and  out  of  his  party.  His  attitude  of  uncompromising 
warfare  for  the  public  welfare  and  of  trust  in  the  people  was 
exhibited  in  his  speech  before  the  Legislature  of  1870  in 

(*)  Similarly  courageous  was  his  remarkable  letter  of  October  24,  1876, 
repelling  a  late  campaign  charge  that  if  he  became  President  he  would 
approve  provisions  for  the  payment  of  "  the  rebel  debt  and  for  losses  of 
slaves  "  (1  Public  Writings,  Vol.  2,  p.  380  ;  Life,  Vol.  2,  p.  6).  As  told  to 
me  at  the  time  by  William  C.  Whitney,  Mr.  Whitelaw  Reid  said  to  him 
that  the  Republicans  were  dumbfounded  by  this  unexpected  refutation 
which  he  practically  accepted  as  complete  (See  Tribune,  Oct.  25,  1876). 


opposition  to  the  Tweed  Charter,  about  to  be  enacted  by 
a  corrupt  combination  of  Tweed  democrats  and  Tweed 
republicans.  He  said  : 

"  I  am  not  afraid  of  the  stormy  sea  of  popular  liberty.  I 
"  still  trust  the  people.  *  *  *  It  is  in  the  stagnation 
"  of  bureaus  and  commissions  that  evils  and  abuses  gen- 
"  erate.  The  storms  that  disturb  the  atmosphere  clear  and 
"  purify  it." 

In  all  of  his  political  activities  an  appeal  to  the  people  at 
large  was  the  predominant  and  prevalent  note.  By  clarion 
calls  he  reinvigorated  and  recruited  the  ranks  of  his  party 
in  his  own  state,  weakened  by  factional  dissensions  and 
shattered  by  frauds.  Without  hesitation  he  invited  and  he  in 
curred  the  vicious  animosity  of  the  corruptionists,  opposing 
against  them  the  awakened  courage  and  will  of  a  better  ele 
ment  recently  stifled,  but  now  strengthened  and  reinforced 
from  without  by  youth  of  independent  disposition.  He  knew 
that  the  people,  particularly  the  young  men,  love  a  leader 
who  fights,  especially  one  who  fights  for  the  right.  Most 
sagaciously  he  declared  that,  "If  once  you  can  make  your 
"  issue  a  moral  issue,  you  are  sure  to  win  the  people." 

He  was  absolutely  sincere  and  truthful  when  in  his  letter 
to  Mr.  Wattersou  (Life,  Vol.  2,  p.  312),  referring  to  the  prin 
ciple  on  which  he  based  his  management  of  his  party  in 
New  York,  he  said  : 

"  I  depended  on  ideas  as  a  political  force  more  liberally 
"  and  less  on  party  machinery  than  any  one  else  has  done. 
'  What  is  called  patronage  I  never  had  to  any  appreciable 
"  extent  and  yet  I  held  my  ascendancy  with  the  Democratic 
"  masses  of  this  State  *  *  *.  I  carried  on  politics  on 
"  a  plane  which  approached  to  the  impracticable." 

This  statement  finds  confirmation  in  the  "  Random  Recol 
lections  "  of  Henry  B.  Stanton  : 

'  When  those  animosities,  rivalries,  and  prejudices  that 
spring  from  party  strife  have  passed  away,  Samuel  J.  Tilden 
will  be  classed  among  the  eminent  men  of  his  era.  In  the 
two  rather  incompatible  qualities  of  calm,  studious,  and 
philosophic  statesmanship  and  the  capacity  to  gather, 
classify,  and  apply  the  statistics  of  a  political  campaign  I 


do  not  remember  to  have  met  his  equal.  As  the  chairman 
of  the  Democratic  State  Committee,  he  would  deliver  an 
address  that  might  have  honored  Thomas  Jefferson." 

Mr.  Tilden's  fight  against  Tweed  and  Tweedism  was  a 
moral  fight ;  a  fight  to  the  finish  ;  and  a  fight  without  par 
allel  in  its  masterly  method  and  overwhelming  destructive- 
ness.  He  had  had  no  faith  in  the  men  who  became  known  as 
the  Ring  and  with  reason  they  feared  him.  He  never  con 
ciliated  them  or  turned  to  avoid  a  collision  with  them 
even  when  they  were  strong  in  the  party  of  which  he  was 
manager  (Public  Writings,  Vol.  1,  p.  564).  He  assisted 
powerfully  in  the  organization  and  in  the  activities  of  the 
Association  of  the  Bar  of  the  City  of  New  York,  as  a  most 
effective  agency  for  the  rescue  and  restoration  of  the  Courts 
which  then  were  under  an  eclipse,  happily  described  by  Mr. 
Evarts  as  "  an  annular  eclipse,  in  which  only  the  ring  is 
visible." 

At  the  organization  of  the  Bar  Association  as  stated  by 
one  present  (Mr.  William  Allen  Butler)  Mr.  Tilden  "made  the 
"  most  stirring  speech  of  the  hour,  unpremeditated,  but  strik- 
"  ing  the  keynote  of  the  effective  denunciation  which  aroused 
"and  quickened  public  sentiment  to  the  need  of  instant 
"  action  "  (Life,  Vol.  1,  p.  186).  In  the  prosecution  of  his 
campaign  for  purity  of  justice,  Mr.  Tilden  went  to  the  As 
sembly  of  1872  and  secured  the  impeachment  of  the  judges. 
Respecting  this,  we  have  the  testimony  of  Mr.  O'Conor 
that  it  was  "all  Tilden's  work  and  no  one's  else." 

"  Tilden  went  to  the  Legislature  and  forced  the  impeach 
ment  against  every  imaginable  obstacle,  open  and  covert, 
political  and  personal  "  (Public  Writings,  Vol.  1,  p.  473). 

Defying  and  defeating  the  efforts  of  the  corruptionists  in 
1869  to  displace  him  from  the  chairmanship  of  the  State 
Committee,  he  gave  his  support  to  the  independent  De 
mocracy  in  the  City  of  New  York  not  only  in  opposing  the 
Tweed  charter  of  1870,  but  again  in  the  successful  revolution 
of  1871.  Then  it  was  that  1  had  with  him  my  first  personal 


experience.  On  the  afternoon  of  election  day  when  as  cor 
rectly  stated  by  him  (Public  Writings,  Vol.  1,  p.  597-8) 
"  general  despondency  prevailed  "  he  was  seated  on  a  sofa 
in  the  insurgent  headquarters  at  Apollo  Hall  deprecating 
the  croakings  of  one  hopeless  of  success  ;  a  timid  soul  that 
exaggerated  the  power  of  the  abhorrent  forces  arrayed  in  a 
life  and  death  struggle  under  the  truculent  Tweed,  even  yet 
a  candidate  and,  as  it  proved,  a  successful  candidate  for 
re-election  to  the  Senate.  A  wail  of  despair  such  as  this 
was  beyond  endurance  by  a  youth  burning  with  righteous 
zeal.  My  hot  indignation  blazed  forth  in  the  splendid  verse, 
that  Shakespeare  puts  into  the  mouth  of  Henry  VI.  "  Thrice 
is  he  armed  that  hath  his  quarrel  just."  Mr.  Tilden  imme 
diately  turned  and  fixed  on  me  his  look  of  approval,  and 
thenceforth  gave  me  his  friendship,  asking  me  to  render  the 
service  indicated  in  my  letter  to  him  dated  November  22, 
1871  (Letters,  Vol.  1,  p.  288),  and  appointing  me  secretary 
when  elected  Governor  in  1874.  The  incident  is  worth 
relating  only  as  indicating  the  principle  that  governed  his 
selection,  his  attraction  and  his  retention  of  youthful 
supporters. 

The  story  of  the  fight  against  the  Tweed  ring,  gloriously 
inaugurated  by  the  New  York  Times  (whose  present  editor 
most  happily  is  member  of  this  Centennial  Committee)  is  part 
of  the  history  of  this  City  from  1871  to  1874.  The  political 
victories  resulting  from  the  Times  disclosures,  promoted 
personally  and  financially  by  Mr.  Tilden,  were  supplemented 
by  civil  and  criminal  prosecutions  made  effectual  exclusively 
through  his  personal  investigation,  accumulation  and  pre 
sentation  of  the  proofs  of  fraud.  If  proofs  be  needed  of  Mr. 
Tilclen's  patriotic  and  professional  superiority  they  will  be 
found  in  Mr.  James  0.  Carter's  summary  and  authoritative 
appreciation  of  these  professional  achievements  without 
precedent  or  parallel.  (Atlantic  Monthly  October  1892  : 
Letters,  Vol.  1,  p.  xviii.) 


8 

Public  service  of  such  commanding  importance  compelled 
his  nomination  and  his  election  to  the  highest  executive 
position  in  the  State.  On  New  Year's  Day  1875  he  took 
the  place  of  the  veteran  statesman,  General  John  A.  Dix, 
his  party  associate  of  thirty  years,  whom  he  had  desired  for 
Pierce's  Cabinet  in  1853  (Letters,  Vol.  1,  p.  84)  for  President 
in  1864  and  for  Governor  in  1862  (Letters,  p.  167)  and  in 
1866  (Letters,  p.  204),  but  whom,  upon  the  issue  of  admin 
istrative  reform,  he  had  defeated  for  Governor  in  1874.  An 
era  was  closing  ;  a  new  day  was  dawning.  The  clouds  gen 
erated  by  slavery,  secession,  civil  war  and  reconstruction 
slowly  withdrawing,  were  to  obscure  the  issues  of  only  one 
more  political  campaign,  though  unhappily  that  was  to  be  the 
contest  of  1876  finally  and  fatefully  involving  Mr.  Tilden's 
political  fortunes. 

Mr.  Tilden's  brilliant  achievements  during  his  term  as 
Governor  also  are  matters  of  history.  His  instantaneous  and 
complete  rout  of  the  canal  ring  (l)  ;  his  fight  for  adminis 
trative  reform  and  for  sound  money,  his  second  annual  mes 
sage  regarded  by  Mr.  Carter  as  a  state  paper  unequalled 
"  in  the  power  and  ease  in  which  it  treats  of  the  principles 


immediateness  of  the  success  of  his  legislative  attack  upon 
the  canal  ring  so  impressed  the  legislative  barber  of  that  day  that  he  re 
marked  to  the  late  Edgar  K.  Apgar  •'  What  a  wonderful  fighter  Governor 
Tilden  is.  He  would  have  finished  the  Civil  War  in  six  months."  Mr. 
Apgar  on  a  winter  night  walking  home  with  the  Governor,  repeated  to 
him  the  barber's  remark.  Immediately  the  Governor  stopped  and  keeping 
Apgar  standing  on  the  snow  covered  pavement,  occupied  large  part  of  an 
hour  in  justifying  the  statement,  and  in  explaining  how  quickly  he  would 
have  accomplished  what  in  fact  it  took  four  years  to  do  !  His  ideas  as 
to  the  art  of  war  had  been  formed  on  a  study  of  Napoleon,  and  he  said  to 
Mr.  Bigelow  (Life,  Vol.  2,  p.  386)  "  that  nothing  would  have  suited  him 
so  well  as  a  military  career."  His  keen  insight  into  military  conditions 
was  illustrated  in  his  advice  to  Secretary  Stanton  (Life,  Vol.  1,  p.  169) 
"  You  have  no  right  to  expect  a  great  military  genius  to  come  to  your 
assistance.  The  whole  human  race  have  been  able  to  furnish  such  men 
only  once  in  a  century  or  two  :  you  can  only  count  on  the  average  military 
talent  *  *  *  In  the  probable  absence  of  military  genius  you  must  rely 
on  overwhelming  numbers  wisely  concentrated."  Two  years  later  Mr. 
Stanton  referred  to  this  advice  with  approval. 


upon  which  government  should  be  conducted  or  in  the  order 
and  perspicuity  with  which  it  arranges  and  sets  forth  the 
details  of  public  business  "  all  these  and  other  acts  of  that 
gubernatorial  term  will  be  presented  this  evening  by  the 
distinguished  gentleman  Mr.  Fairchild  who  was  associated 
then  as  Attorney  General  with  Governor  Tilden  and  after 
wards  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  with  President  Cleve 
land. 

His  qualities  as  party  manager  and  as  party  leader  were 
well  summed  up  in  the  New  York  Sun  of  June  3,  1886  in  an 
article  entitled  "  The  Great  Democrat.  Samuel  J.  Tilden  and 
the  Development  of  his  Political  Philosophy,"  quoting  from 
the  Critic  a  review  of  his  Public  Writings. 

"  He  leaves  perhaps  a  more  definitely  crystalized  system 
of  political  philosophy  than  any  American  Statesman  who 
is  or  has  been  his  contemporary.  Those  who  agree  with 
him  and  those  who  dissent  from  his  views  of  the  fundamen 
tal  principle  will  be  alike  impressed  with  the 
consistency  of  the  man  as  here  made  up.  He 
has  been  for  half  a  century  one  of  the  few 
original  thinkers  in  American  politics  one  of  the  very 
few  who  have  succeeded  throughout  the  vicissitudes  of 
party  strife  in  making  expediency  bend  always  to  philoso 
phy.  With  all  Mr.  Tilden's  consummate  skill  in  the  arts  of 
partisanship  it  is  surprising  how  little  of  the  partisan  in 
the  narrow  sense  appears  in  his  declarations.  His  calm 
thought  and  wise  fore-thought  have  illuminated  every  one 
of  the  great  questions  of  the  List  fifty  years,  and  yet  whose 
recorded  utterances  considered  as  a  whole,  or  in  detail  can 
better  stand  the  test  in  the  light  of  present  knowledge  ? 
*  *  #  *  #  * 

We  think  that  the  bitterest  political  enemy  of  Mr.  Tilden 
cannot  study  his  life  record  as  here  presented  in  its  en 
tirety  without  reaching  the  conviction  that  he  rose  steadily 
to  commanding  influence  by  virtue  of  the  highest  qualities 
of  statesmanship,  nor  without  increased  respect  for  the  sin 
cerity  of  his  motives,  the  wisdom  and  unswerving  loyalty,  his 
patriotism  and  the  unselfishness  of  a  career  that  ends  with 
dignity  in  the  memorable  letter  declining  for  a  second  time 
a  nomination  that  meant  election." 

Mr.  Tilden's  system  of  political  philosophy  referred  to  by 
the  writer  of  the  Critic's  article  anticipated  by  many  years. 


10 

much  that  strenuous  reformers  of  the  present  day  imagine 
to  have  been  born  with  them. 

1.  As  already    indicated  by   me,  (and  as   recognized   by 
Mr.  Choate:    "  The  World"  February  8,  1914),  his  funda 
mental  principle,  was  trust  in  the  people. 

2.  Keforms  must  come   from   the   plain  people   and   not 
from  above. 

"  All  history  shows  that  reforms  in  government  must  not 
"  be  expected  from  those  who  sit  serenely  on  the  social 
"  mountain  tops  enjoying  the  benefits  of  the  existing  order 
"  of  things  "  (Life,  Vol.  I.,  p.  288). 

In  1874  he  said  to  a  political  committee,  of  which  I  was 
a  member,  calling  on  him  to  tender  our  support  : 

"  I  appeal  particularly  to  the  poor  man,  whose  home  is 
fixed  and  difficult  of  change.  He  is  concerned  in  matters 
of  government  more  vitally  than  the  rich  man  who,  re 
moving  his  residence  with  comparative  ease,  can  escape 
the  oppressions  of  a  government  that  he  regards  as  intol 
erable." 

3.  A  higher  standard  of  political  conduct  was  essential. 
In  his  letter   to   Eugene   Casserly   dated   July   3,   1872 

(Letters,  Vol.  1,  p.  310),  a  personal  letter  to  a  friend  and 
consequently  free  from  suspicion  as  a  play  to  the  public,  he 
said : 

"  It  is  rarely  if  ever  possible  for  a  party  in  office  to 
"  reform  itself  by  the  internal  force  of  its  best  elements. 
"  We  must  have  a  better  state  of  things  in  national,  state 
"  and  municipal  government,  and  a  higher  standard  in  the 
"  public  mind  by  which  official  men  will  be  tried,  and  to 
"  which  they  will  refer  in  their  silent  meditations  and  in 
"  their  actions,  if  we  would  preserve  anything  of  value  in 
"  our  political  system." 

4.  Class  legislation  is  vicious.     Therefore  he  persistently 
opposed  the  Republican  party  regarded  by  him  as  supporters 
of  class  legislation. 

In  his  last  political  letter  dated  October  6,  1884,  and 
addressed  to  a  Committee  of  the  Democratic  National  Con 
vention  he  said  (Life,  Vol.  1,  p.  287)  : 


11 

"  The  Republican  party  has  always  been  dominated  by 
"  principles  which  favor  legislation  for  the  benefit  of  par- 
"  ticular  classes  at  the  expense  of  the  body  of  the  people 
«•*•**  rpiie  patri0tic  an(|  virtuous  elements  in  it  are 
"  now  unable  to  emancipate  it  from  the  sway  of  selfish  in- 
"  terests  which  subordinate  public  duty  to  personal  gain. 
"  The  most  hopeful  of  the  best  citizens  it  contains  despair 
"  of  its  amendment  except  through  its  temporary  expulsion 
"  from  power." 

In  the  year  1912  this  view  seems  to  have  been  adopted 
by  approximately  four  million  former  Republicans. 

5.  A  reformed  judiciary  an  essential  of  good  government. 

"  A  reform  in  the  administration  of  justice  *  *  * 
was  not  only  inimically  the  most  important  *  *  *  but 
was  a  measure  without  which  every  other  reform  would 
prove  nugatory  "  (Public  Writings,  Vol.  I.,  p.  598). 

Indeed  on  this  point  he  went  so  far  as  to  state  in  a 
letter  to  the  Times  in  January,  1873  (Public  Writings,  Vol. 
1,  p.  594),  that,  in  case  the  Courts  should  fail  in  their  duty 
against  the  ring,  he  had  resolved  to  open  an  issue  in  advance 
of  the  election  of  the  new  legislature, — a  convention 
to  revise  the  judiciary.  This  would  seem  to  come  pretty 
near  to  the  judicial  recall,  though  in  practice  he  clearly 
indicated  the  sufficiency  of  the  process  for  impeachment " 
(Public  Writings,  Vol.  1,  p.  482). 

6.  Accountability  of  public  officers  practically  enforce 
able  through  the  Courts. 

The  reform  of  legal  procedure  to  this  end  was  called  for 
in  his  first  message  as  Governor  (Public  Writings,  Vol.  2, 
p.  34)  and  was  accomplished  by  the  acts,  Chapters  23  and 
49  of  the  laws  of  1875,  earnestly  desired  by  Mr.  O'Conor 
(Life,  Vol.  1,  p.  247). 

7.  Investigation  of   the  causes  of  the  growth  and  decay 
of  population,  mortality,  pauperism    and  crime  ;  in  short, 
the  so-called  sociological  research  of  the  present  day. 

All  of  these  phenomena  in  his  view,  as  stated  in  his 
address  in  1876  to  the  Saratoga  Conference  of  Charities 


12 

(Public  Writings,  Vol.  2,  p.  374),  were  susceptible  of  scien 
tific  analysis.  He  said  : 

"  A  conference  of  charities.  What  a  noble  rivalry  is 
implied  in  these  words.  You  are  here  *  *  *  not  even 
to  promote  the  well  being  of  those  communities  which  you 
represent ;  but  to  consider  what  can  best  be  done  to  cure 
the  wounds  and  maladies  of  society.  *  *  Even  those 

most  uncertain  things  that  depend  on  the  human  will  are 
capable  of  being  studied,  of  being  analyzed,  of  being  classi 
fied  and  their  results  stated. 

Except  for  the  limitation  of  time  necessarily  imposed 
by  the  programme  of  the  evening  I  could  much  extend  my 
scheme  of  his  political  propaganda. 

My  duty  now  is  to  hasten  to  a  summary  discussion  of 
the  events  connected  with  the  election  of  Mr.  Tilden  as 
President  of  the  United  States  in  1876,  the  denial  of  his 
right,  and  his  patriotic  submission  to  monumental  injustice, 
rather  than  subject  his  country  to  the  possibility  of  civil 
strife. 

At  midnight  of  Election  Day,  November  7,  1876,  bearing 
the  latest  news  I  went  from  the  rooms  of  the  Democratic 
National  Committee  to  the  residence  of  Mr.  Tilden  on 
Gramercy  Park.  The  returns  then  indicated  that  he  had 
carried  four  Northern  States,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Con 
necticut  and  Indiana,  and  every  Southern  State  excepting 
possibly  South  Carolina,  thus  having  at  least  196  electoral 
votes,  a  clear  majority  of  the  whole,  with  fair  prospects  in 
California  and  Oregon,  which,  however,  never  materialized. 
A  brilliant  assemblage  of  men  and  women  of  high  social 
position,,  the  usual  associates  of  Mr.  Tilden,  was  gathered 
there  in  gay  spirits  to  congratulate  him,  for  already  his 
confident  expectations  were  in  course  of  realization.  The 
democratic  city  was  hilarious,  and  the  Republican  centres 
correspondingly  depressed.  Every  newspaper  claimed  or 
conceded  Tilden's  election  except  the  Times  and  the  Herald, 
which  reserved  decision.  Within  twenty-four  hours,  how 
ever,  a  new  set  of  claims  developed ;  that  in  every  one  of 


13 

the  three  Southern  States  under  Republican  Governors, 
South  Carolina,  Florida  and  Louisiana,  the  vote  though 
cast  for  Tilden  might  be  counted  for  Hayes.  Within  one 
hundred  days  these  claims  were  fulfilled  to  the  dot.  Tilden 
votes  were  given  to  Hayes  ;  and  he  was  declared  to  have 
received  185  electoral  votes  as  against  184  for  Tilden. 

The  story  of  this  great  wrong  has  been  told  again  and 
again,  and  most  recently  in  the  Century  Magazine,  which,  in 
May,  1913,  published  Mr.  Wattersoii's  slashing  attack  upon 
the  republican  procedure,  and  in  June,  Senator  Edmunds' 
weighty  answer,  together  with  Mr.  Watterson'skeen  rejoinder 
which  begins  with  the  statement, 

"  If  I  may  say  so,  without  departing  from  the  respect 
"  and  regard  in  which  I  hold  Senator  Edmunds,  he  has 
"  made  rather  a  case  at  law  than  a  contribution  to  history. 
"  With  the  trained  skill  of  an  expert  he  emphasizes  all  that 
"  may  be  pleaded  on  his  own  side  while  either  ignoring  or 
"  belittling  the  strength  of  the  other  side." 

This,  also,  is  my  view,  of  the  venerable  and  beloved 
Senator,  distinguished  alike  for  his  character,  and  his  ability 
and  not  less  for  his  unquenchable  devotion  to  his  party. 
His  party  loyalty  is  sufficient  to  explain  and  perhaps  to 
excuse  his  Senatorial  votes  in  1868  to  impeach  Andrew 
Johnson  and  in  1887  against  the  measure  of  his  party 
colleague  Senator  Hoar  to  repeal  the  "  Tenure  of  Office 
Act "  passed  originally  to  fetter  Johnson.  According  to 
Senator  Hoar  (Autobiography,  Vol.  2,  p.  143)  Senator 
Edmunds  fought  this  repeal  with  all  his  might  and  main. 
He  bitterly  characterized  Grover  Cleveland  as  "  another 
Charles  the  First "  because  in  the  exercise  of  his  constitu 
tional  right  he  declined  to  communicate  to  the  Senate  his 
reasons  for  removing  a  public  officer. 

Ingrained  partisanship  of  course  cannot  yield  an  impartial 
estimate,  and  it  must  be  conceded  that  nearly  all  on 
either  side  who  either  participated  in  the  dispute  over  the 
presidential  election  of  1876,  or  who  have  attempted  to 
write  its  history  have  been  influenced  if  not  controlled  by 


14 

party  affiliations.  The  most  reasonable  Republican  view  is 
presented  by  Professor  Burgess  (Reconstruction  p.  295) 
and,  as  usual,  the  fairest  view  is  taken  by  Mr.  James  Ford 
Rhodes  (History  of  the  U.  S.  Vol.  VII,  p.  282-285). 

Time  does  not  allow,  nor  does  the  present  occasion 
require,  a  re- examination  of  the  facts  ;  but  considering  only 
Florida  and  Louisiana,  each  necessary  to  Hayes — I  may  be 
permitted  with  intended  moderation  to  state  in  summary 
why,  after  examination  of  the  evidence,  the  law  and 
the  procedure,  I  believe  that,  unless  the  precedents  and 
the  just  principles  of  our  system  of  elections  were  to  be 
overturned,  Mr.  Tilden  was  chosen  President  on  Election 
Day  in  1876. 

1.  In  the  first  place,   the  votes  on  that  day  actually  de 
posited  in  the  ballot  boxes  were  found,  and  in  the  due  and 
ordinary  count  by  the  local  canvassing  boards  were  deter 
mined,  to  be  such  that  in  the  aggregate  they  were  sufficient 
to  elect  Mr.  Tilden.     Never  before  or  since  has  a  presidential 
election  been  determined  in   defiance  of   such  a  showing. 
The  national  practice  has  been  and  should  be  to  accept  the 
will  of  the  people  as  exhibited  by  their  votes  in  the  several 
localities  independent  one  of  the  other,  and  not  to  permit 
these   to   be  overruled   by   a  central  authority  tempted  to 
tamper  with  the  result,  because  of  a  later  knowledge  of  the 
necessities  of  the  general  canvass.     To-day  in  any  part  of 
our  country  such  an  attempt  to  set  aside  the  local  determi 
nations,  except  through  the  courts  would  be  unthinkable. 

2.  The  proceedings  of  the   State  Canvassers   in   Florida 
and  of  the  Returning  Board  in  Louisiana  overruling  local 
boards  were  not  only  without  precedent  or  repetition  in  any 
contested  presidential  election,  but  to  say   the  least  were 
grossly  partisan,  with  grave  indications  of  corruption,  and 
apparently  in  unlawful  usurpation  of  power. 

3.  In    Florida    the    gallant    and  honorable    Republican 
watcher  General  Barlow  reported  that  Tilden  had  carried 


15 

the  State,  (l)  and  he  urged  such  a  declaration  upon  Dr.  Cow- 
gill  one  of  the  two  Republican  members  of  the  State  Can 
vassers  who  had  said  to  General  Barlow  that  "  he  could  not 
conscientiously  vote  to  give  the  State  to  the  Hayes  Elec 
tors."  [H.  E.  Misc.  Doc.  31,  45th  Cong.  3rd  Sess.  1363.] 
The  third  member  of  the  Board,  Attorney  General  Cocke  a 
Democrat,  took  the  same  view  as  that  expressed  by  Dr. 
Cowgill  whose  violation  of  conscience  thus  gave  Florida 
to  Hayes.  That  the  canvassers  had  no  lawful  power  to  do 
as  they  did  do  was  determined  with  reference  to  their  sim 
ultaneous  proceedings  in  canvassing  the  vote  for  Governor. 
The  Republican  Supreme  Court  adjudged  that  the  Board 
had  usurped  revisory  power,  and  commanded  it  to  re 
convene  and  to  re-canvass  the  vote  for  Governor  according 
to  the  local  returns.  This  resulted  in  seating  the  Democratic 
candidate  for  Governor. 

Thereupon  in  quo  warranto  proceedings  touching  the 
presidental  vote  the  Circuit  Court  in  Florida  adjudged  that 
the  Hayes  Electors  had  not  been,  and  that  the  Tilden 
Electors  had  been,  lawfully  chosen,  each  having  cast  their 
votes  simultaneously  on  the  day  prescribed  by  Congress.  (2) 


(*)  Dr.  Haworth  justly  and  highly  appreciates  the  value  of  any  state 
ment  from  General  Barlow,  the  hero  of  Gettysburg  and  of  Cold  Harbor, 
as  fearless  in  peace  as  in  war.  But,  Dr.  Haworth  may  be  relieved  of 
his  uncertainty  (Disputed  Elections,  p.  75)  "whether  General  Barlow's 
opinion  in  the  case  was  in  any  measure  due  to  a  tendency  sometimes 
noticeable  in  high  minded  persons  to  concede  all  doubtful  points  to  an 
opponent."  General  Barlow  certainly  was  high  minded,  but  equally  he 
was  a  born  contestant  and  in  controversy  he  never  conceded  any  point  that 
he  believed  could  be  maintained  in  honor  and  logic.  From  personal 
knowledge  I  state  that  in  December,  1876,  he  left  New  York  for  Florida 
persuaded  that  that  State  had  gone  for  Hayes,  and  believing  and  desiring 
that  such  result  should  be  established  by  the  canvass  of  the  votes. 

(2)  The  fact  that  the  judgment  was  that  of  a  lower  court  from  which  an 
appeal  was  taken  was  immaterial  in  law,  and  also  in  view  of  the  significant 
fact  that  the  Hayes'  counsel,  General  Wallace,  had  refused  the  Tilden  coun 
sel's  offer  and  request  for  an  immediate  argument  of  his  appeal,  saying 
that  he  would  return  to  argue  it  as  matter  of  law  in  the  succeeding  July  ! ! 


16 

These  quo  warranto  proceedings  were  examined  critically  by 
me  in  conference  with  Mr.  Tilden,  while  he  was  preparing 
the  brief  No.  2  submitted  to  the  Electoral  Commission  (p. 
745)  and  I  was  preparing  the  brief  No.  3  submitted  by 
Mr.  W.  C.  Whitney  (p.  760).  Ample  reasons  in  support  of 
the  effect  of  the  quo  warranto  judgment  are  to  be  found  in 
those  briefs,  and  in  the  convincing  arguments  of  those 
great  lawyers  Charles  O'Conor  and  Richard  T.  Merrick  and 
of  Mr.  Justice  CLIFFORD.  Both  sides  of  the  contention  are 
fully  stated  also  in  the  majority  and  the  minority  reports  of 
the  Sargent  Senate  Committee  in  January,  1877  (S.  R.  No. 
611,  pt.  4,  44th  Congress,  2d  Session).  But  the  minority 
report  has  the  advantage  of  support  from  General  Barlow's 
letter  (p.  12)  and  the  judgment  of  the  Florida  Supreme 
Court  on  the  law  of  Florida. 

Mr.  Justice  BRADLEY'S  rejection  of  this  judgment  of  a 
Florida  Republican  Court  as  to  Florida  law  was  determined 
(as  was  that  of  the  majority  report  above  mentioned) 
by  the  technicality,  that  the  judgment  was  rendered  too 
late,  though  it  was  rendered  and  published  for  common 
knowledge  long  before  Congress  was  called  upon  to  act. 
If  this  judgment  could  have  been  rendered  and  had 
been  rendered  as  soon  as  the  proceedings  therefor 
were  instituted  by  the  service  of  the  original  writ, 
(upon  December  6,  1876,  before  the  usurping  electors  had 
voted),  (!)  presumably  it  would  have  been  upheld  by  Judge 
BRADLEY,  though  still  his  hospitable  mind  might  have  opened 


(J)  It  is  true,  (as  observed  by  Mr.  Dougherty),  that  in  his  argument  Mr. 
Justice  Miller  stated  that  it  was  not  shown  whether  the  writ  was  actually 
served  before  the  votes  by  the  Hayes  Electors  or  afterwards.  In  this  par 
ticular  however  the  fact  is  stated  accurately  in  the  argument  of  Mr. 
Justice  Clifford,  who  found  that  the  Tilden  Electors  by  extreme  diligence 
caused  the  writ  to  be  served  on  the  Hayes  Electors  ' '  before  they  cast  their 
votes" 

The  apparent  discrepancy  is  because  Mr.  Justice  Clifford  did,  and  Mr. 
Justice  Miller  did  not,  regard  the  record  in  the  quo  warranto  proceedings 


17 

to  some  other  suggestion  of  reasons  for  its  rejection.  Thus 
the  great  decision  of  this  greatest  of  controversies  affecting 
an  entire  nation  went  off  upon  a  mere  question  of  time  and 
not  of  right.  Posturing  as  bowing  to  the  State's  exclusive 
right  to  attest  the  validity  of  the  choice  of  its  own  Electors, 
the  Commission  reached  its  decision  in  utter  disregard  of 
the  State's  own  adjudication  on  this  very  point.  No  such 
decision  upon  a  technical  point  (which  in  any  view  could 


as  included  within  the  Democratic  offer  to  prove.     Mr.  Justice  Miller  re 
ferred  contemptuously  as  follows  to  these  papers  of  critical  importance  : 

"It  is  strongly  urged  upon  us  that  a  large  pile  of  papers,  a  half 
bushel,  perhaps,  in  quantity,  of  the  contents  of  which  both  the  Com 
mission  and  the  two  Houses  of  Congess  (how  did  he  know  this  ?)  are  pro- 
foundly  ignorant,  has  become  legitimate  evidence  and  must  necessarily 
be  considered  by  us,  because  they  are  in  a  very  general  way  referred  to  in 
the  objections  to  the  Hayes- Wheeler  certificates." 

Of  course,  Mr.  Justice  Miller  could  correctly  insist  upon  the  observ 
ance  of  the  strictest  technicality  in  the  actual  reception  of  the  proofs ; 
but  upon  the  preliminary  question  as  to  an  offer  of  proof,  it  would  seem 
that  Mr.  Justice  Clifford  was  clearly  correct  in  understanding  the  offer  to 
include  all  that  the  accompanying  records  indicated  would  be  proved  if 
the  offer  were  entertained  by  the  Commission.  However,  in  this  instance 
as  elsewhere  in  his  argument,  evidence  may  be  found  that  one  of  our 
greatest  constitutional  lawyers  was  not  disposed  to  disregard  any  point  of 
party  advantage,  even  though  it  were  purely  technical.  This  feature  is 
due  probably  to  the  fact  indicated  in  the  official  index  of  the  report  of  the 
Electoral  Commission  that  none  of  the  members  were  called  "Justices" 
but  all  "Commissioners"  and  that  none  of  their  utterances  were  called 
"opinions"  but  all  "arguments."  Every  Commissioner  on  each  side 
seems  to  have  been  doing  his  very  best  for  his  own  party  and  had  he  failed 
so  to  do  probably  like  General  Barlow  would  have  been  exposed  to  abuse 
for  treachery  to  his  party.  It  is  ever  to  be  regretted  that  it  was  found 
necessary  to  drag  the  Supreme  Court  into  a  controversy  essentially  partisan 
in  its  nature. 

Under  the  influence  of  such  considerations  it  is  not  strange  that  Mr. 
Justice  Miller  accepted  as  of  ultimate  and  controlling  importance  not  the 
count  of  the  ballots  in  the  boxes  but  the  revising  certificate  of  the  State 
canvassers  already  denounced  by  the  State  Courts.  The  general  rule  to 
the  contrary  is  illustrated  by  the  unanimous  decision  of  the  New  York 
Court  of  Appeals  in  the  leading  case  of  People  against  Cook  (8  N.  Y., 
67-82),  that: 

"  It  is  by  the  popular  expression  by  the  voters  through  the  ballot  box 
that  a  title  is  derived  to  an  elective  office.  The  certificate  of  the  Board  of 
Canvassers  is  mere  evidence  of  the  person  to  whom  the  majority  of  the 
votes  were  given.  *  *  *  When  this  proceeding  (quo  warranto)  is  in 
stituted  in  the  name  of  the  people,  the  certificate  loses  its  conclusive  char 
acter  and  becomes  only  prima  facie  evidence  of  the  right." 


18 

have  been  obviated  by  a  short  and  simple  act  of  Congress)  (r) 
could  be  expected  to  command  nor  did  it  receive  national 
approval  any  more  than  that  in  the  Dred  Scott  case.  At 
the  time  I  had  no  doubt,  and  (notwithstanding  the  learned, 
and  in  my  estimation,  the  upright  Justice  BKADLEY,  whose 
printed  argument  begins  with  an  acknowledgment  of  his 
change  of  mind)  I  have  no  doubt  now  that  in  view  of  that 
judgment  in  quo  warranto  the  votes  of  the  Hayes  Electors 
in  the  State  of  Florida  should  not  have  been  accepted  either 
by  the  Commission  or  by  the  Congress. 

The  view  which  I  have  thus  ventured  to  express  is  that 
also  of  Mr.  Justice  Clifford  which  is  quoted  with  high 
appreciation  by  Mr.  Dougherty  (The  Electoral  System, 
p.  158)  as  follows  : 

"  The  Democratic  contention  was  well   stated  with  great 
impressiveness  by  Mr.  Justice  CLIFFORD,  when  he  said  : 
'Kepeated  admissions    have   been    made   during  the  dis- 

*  cnssion  that  a  state  may  determine  what  persons  thaitjuali- 
'  fied  voters  have   chosen    and    appointed  electors  of  Presi- 
1  dent  and  Vice-President,  but  the   proposition'  is  advanced 

*  that  the  determination   must  J^e  made  before  the  electors 
'  meet  and  cast  their  votes,  and   that   it  cannot  be  made  at 

*  any  subsequent  time.     Antecedent  investigation  cannot  be 

*  made  in  this  case  before  -£he  electors  voted  for  the  reason 

*  that  the  old  board  of   state   canvassers  did  not  make  their 
'  report  until    the   day  when   the  votes  were    cast,  nor  were 
'  the    Hayes   electors  furnished  with   a   certificate   of   the 

*  canvassers  until  that  day.' 


(1)  Adequate  statutory  provision  for  the  future  probably  has  been 
made  by  the  Act  of  February  3, 1887,  largely  the  work  of  Senator  Edmunds 
at  his  best,  unembarrassed  by  party  necessities.  This  statute  is  the  subject 
of  an  acute  and  able  discussion  by  Mr.  Dougherty,  which  deserves  high 
consideration. 

A  difficulty  in  Florida  was  that  the  interval  between  Election  (Novem 
ber  7)  and  the  day  appointed  for  the  Electors  meeting  (the  first  Wednes 
day  in  December)  was  too  short  to  allow  for  an  official  canvass  and  also 
for  a  subsequent  judicial  review  resulting  in  a  judgment  before  the  voting 
by  the  electors. 

This  difficulty  is  met  in  the  new  statute  by  postponing  until  the  second 
Monday  of  January  the  meeting  of  the  electors,  and  making  conclusive  any 
determination  judicial  or  otherwise  announced  six  days  (!)  previously 
according  to  State  laws  enacted  prior  to  the  preceding  election. 


19 

1  All  that  could  be  done  by  way  of  investigation  before 
'  that  time  was  done,  as  appears  by  the  certificate  of  the 
'  Attorney  General,  which  was  also  given  to  the  Tilden 

*  Electors    on     the   same    6th   of    December.     Without   a 

*  moment's  delay  the  Tilden  electors  sued  out  a  writ  of  quo 
'  warranto  against  the  usurpers,  and  by  extreme   diligence 

*  caused  it  to  be  served  on  them  one  hour  before  they  cast 

*  their  votes. 

*  Weighed  in  the  light  of  these  suggestions,  the  proposi- 
'  tiou  that  subsequent  investigation  cannot  be  made  is 
'  monstrous,  as  it  shows  a  mockery  of  justice.  You  may  in- 
'  vestigate  before  the  votes  are  cast,  when  it  is  impossible 

*  for  want  of  time,  but  you  shall  not  after  that,  as  you  would 
1  then  have  an  opportunity  to  ascertain  the  truth.' ' 

Accepting  unhesitatingly  this  view  of  Justice  Clifford,  I 
concede  that  there  are  still  some  who  differ  from  it  as  ap 
plicable  to  the  controversy  of  1876,  though  it  is  not  believ 
able  that  to-day  any  responsible  statesman  would  dream  of 
applying  to  any  present  controversy  a  ruling  such  as  that 
which  took  Florida  away  from  Tilden  and  gave  it  to  Hayes. 
If  there  be  any  impartial  being  who  now  would  justify  such 
a  procedure  at  this  time,  I  have  been  unable  by  careful  and 
repeated  inquiry  to  discover  him. 

It  is  appalling  to  reflect  that  the  destinies  of  Mr. 
Tilden,  of  the  Democratic  party  and  of  the  Nation  were 
subject  to  determination,  and  actually  were  determined, 
by  an  obscure  even  if  honest-minded  country  physician, 
acting  contrary  to  what  Florida  Courts  held  to  be  Florida 
law,  and  (as  testified  by  General  Barlow)  in  disregard  of  his 
conscientious  scruples  as  expressly  stated  by  him.  His 
associate  McLin  in  a  craven  letter  (S.  B.  No.  611  above 
cited,  page  499)  begged  for  reward  by  appointment  as  federal 
judge,  a  position  to  which  he  was  nominated  by  Mr.  Hayes 
though  not  confirmed  by  the  Senate  and,  within  two  years  he 
publicly  impeached  the  validity  of  the  action  taken  by  him 
self  in  canvassing  the  votes  for  Hayes  (H.  E.  Mis.  Doc. 
31  Pt.  2  :  45th  Cong.  pp.  98-99  :  Life  Vol.  2,  pp.  22-29). 
No  wrong  could  be  greater  than  the  evils  possible  through 
legislation  or  decisions  investing  such  a  body  of  three  with 


20 

power  to  reverse  the  will  of  thousands  of  voters  as  evidenced 
by  these  ballots  cast  independently  of  each  other  at  hun 
dreds  of  polls.  To  this  situation  also  may  be  applied  the 
words  of  Mr.  Tilden  with  reference  to  a  Congressional 
Commission  : 

"  So  great  a  stake  as  the  government  of  forty  millions  of 
"  people  with  immense  civil  expenditures  and  a  hundred 
"  thousand  office  holders  to  be  disposed  of  by  a  small  body 
"  sitting  in  the  capital  would  become  the  sport  of  intrigue 
"  or  fraud  "  (Letters,  Vol.  2,  p.  532). 

In  this  record,  which  I  believe  to  be  incontestibly  true, 
I,  for  one  out  of  millions,  am  unable  to  discern  how  a  meri 
torious  title  for  the  Hayes  electors  in  Florida  can  be  dis 
covered  by  any  one  whose  vision  is  not  distorted  by  partisan 
bias. 

5.  In  the  State  of  Louisiana  the  conduct  of  the  Returning 
Board  was  nauseating.  (1)  It  revolted  fair-minded  Repub 
licans.  Mr.  Rhodes  reviews  its  action  at  length  (Vol.  7, 
pp.  231-236),  and  says  (p.  284),  that  Mr.  Hayes  "  ought  to 


(*)  "  It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  result  announced  by  the  returning 
board  had  been  attained  by  a  series  of  grossly  partisan  and  illegal  acts. 
The  board  had  failed  to  obey  the  statute  requiring  them  to  fill  the  vacancy 
in  their  membership.  They  had  entertained  protests  which  had  been 
irregularly  made.  *  *  *  One  or  more  of  them  it  appears  had  even 
altered  and  falsified  the  returns  from  Vernon  and  perhaps  from  other 
parishes.  For  this  offense  they  were  all  in  the  following  year  indicted  : 
and  one  of  them,  Anderson,  was  tried,  convicted  and  sentenced  to  the 
penitentiary  for  two  years,  though  subsequently  released  on  a  point  of 
law  (Haworth,  "  Disputed  Presidential  Election  of  1876,"  p.  116). 

This  is  the  same  board  whose  character  was  certified  in  the  following 
remarkable  letter  to  Mr.  Hayes  from  John  Sherman  (Recollections,  VoK  1, 
p.  558)  :  "  That  you  would  have  received  at  a  fair  election  a  large  majority 
in  Louisiana  no  honest  man  can  question  ;  tJiat  you  did  not  receive  a  majority 
is  equally  clear.  But  that  intimidation  of  the  very  kind  and  nature  pro 
vided  against  by  the  Louisiana  law  did  enter  into  and  control  the  election, 
in  more  election  polls  than  would  change  the  result  I  believe  as  firmly  as 
that  I  write  this.  *  *  *  The  whole  case  rests  upon  the  action  of  the 
returning  board.  I  have  carefully  observed  them,  and  have  formed  a 
high  opinion  of  Governor  Wells  and  Colonel  Anderson.  They  are  firm, 
judicious  and,  as  far  as  I  can  judge,  thoroughly  honest  and  conscientious" 
(23d  November,  1876). 


21 

have  stopped  the  action  in  his  favor  of  "  the  Louisiana 
Returning  Board."  President  Seely,  Republican  and  highly 
honored  Representative  from  Massachusetts,  declined  to  vote 
to  count  this  Louisiana  return,  giving  his  reasons  upon  the 
floor  of  the  House  as  follows  : 

"  I  find  it  therefore  quite  impossible  to  say  which  of  the 
"  two  sets  of  electors  coming  up  here  with  their  certificates 
"  voice  the  true  will  of  the  people  of  Louisiana  in  the  late 
"  election  and  therefore  equally  beyond  my  power  to  assent 
4f  to  the  propriety  of  counting  either.  *  *  *  Granted 
"  that  the  decision  reached  is  fairly  within  the  bond ;  yet 
11  what  if  the  pound  of  flesh  cannot  be  taken  with  out  its 
41  drop  of  blood." 

6.  This,  as  it  seems  to  me  was  the  true  and  sound  doc 
trine.  Nothing  short  of  a  solution  according  to  the  merits 
would  have  satisfied  or  ever  will  satisfy  a  great  and  in 
telligent  people.  Patient  and  fair  consideration  would 
have  found  legal  grounds  sufficient  for  decision  according 
to  the  merits.  Such  consideration  conceivably  might 
have  involved,  as  with  President  Seely  it  did  involve,  a 
rejection  of  the  entire  vote  of  Louisiana  as  tainted 
with  Republican  corruption  and  Democratic  intimidation. 
Such  a  rejection,  however,  would  have  fallen  short  of  the 
necessities  of  the  Hayes  canvass  which  required  that  not 
one  of  the  disputed  votes  should  be  rejected  but  that  every 
one  of  them  should  be  counted,  and  be  counted  for  Hayes. 
This,  as  I  have  said,  was  done  in  defiance  of  both  precedent 
and  principle. 

In  attempted  justification  of  this  violation  of  the  rule  of 
government  according  to  the  ballots  cast,  it  has  been  and  is 
said  (following  John  Sherman's  letter  to  Mr.  Hayes)  that 
the  colored  people  were  not  permitted  to  vote  as  then  they 
were  entitled  to  vote,  and  therefore  that  the  votes  of  Florida 
and  Louisiana  were  to  be  counted  upon  the  basis  of  the 
relative  populations  white  and  colored. 

In  reply  it  may  fairly  be  observed  that  upon  this  theory 
the  holding  of  any  election  in  those  states  was  a  work 


22 

of  supererogation,  their  vote  for  Hayes  being  foreor 
dained.  It  may  also  be  asked  whether,  in  advance  of 
election  day,  the  Hayes  managers  would  have  dared  to 
disclose  a  plan  such  as  that  by  them  subsequently 
adopted ;  whether  in  October  1876  they  would  have  ven 
tured  to  declare,  as  in  December  1876  they  did  declare,  that 
whatever  their  vote,  Florida  and  Louisiana  would  be  counted 
for  Hayes,  thus  turning  election  day  in  those  States  into  a 
farce,  and  the  campaign  arid  the  process  of  election  into 
mere  mockery  ? 

The  answer  to  this  question  of  course  can  only  be 
imagined,  for  as  Mr.  Tilden  was  accustomed  to  say,  "  You 
"  cannot  state  the  consequences  of  what  never  hap- 
"  pened."  It  requires,  however,  no  stretch  of  imagination 
to  assume  that  a  seasonable  and  public  announcement 
before  election  day  of  a  purpose  so  revolutionary  (*)  would 
have  affronted  enough  Northern  voters  to  turn  the  scales  in 
at  least  one  of  four  Northern  doubtful  states,  which  went 
against  Tilden  by  narrow  margins  ;  Nevada  and  Oregon  by- 
less  than  1,100  and  California  and  New  Hampshire  by  less 
than  3,100.  The  tide  was  running  for  Tilden,  not  in  the 
South  alone,  but  also  in  the  North,  where  he  received  forty- 
seven  per  cent,  of  the  vote,  coming  within  7,500  votes  of 


(*)  Though  no  such  announcement  may  have  been  made  before  the 
election,  the  contingency  of  a  dispute  was  indicated  by  Murat  Halstead 
addressing  a  New  York  Republican  meeting,  October  26, 1876,  in  a  speech 
remarkable  for  its  partisan  foresight.  He  said  : 

"  The  October  elections  have  not  as  in  other  days  settled  the  question 
of  the  presidency.  What  if  the  November  election  also  should  be  incon 
clusive  ?  What  if  the  result  of  the  question  of  Tilden  or  Hayes  for  Presi 
dent  rested  upon  a  Southern  State,  upon  Mississippi  or  South  Carolina, 
with  a  derringer  in  one  hand  and  a  bayonet  in  the  other  ;  and  the  heated 
politicians  gathering  at  Washington  and  desperate,  should  fly  at  each 
other's  throats  and  let  slip  the  dogs  of  war.  A  disputed  presidential  elec 
tion  would  Mexicanize  us.  There  is  incalculable  ruin  in  it.  If  the  New 
York  vote  is  given  to  the  Democratic  candidate  we  are  immediately 
threatened  with  this  degradation.  If  New  York  is  Republican  the  danger 
is  over." 

But  New  York  refused  to  be  stampeded  and  by  the  size  of  its  majority 
for  Tilden  emphasized  its  resentment  of  such  attempted  intimidation  of 
an  entire  State. 


23 

Hayes  in  his  own  State  of  Ohio,  a  difference  of  only  seven - 
tenths  of  one  per  cent. 

But  here  and  now  in  a  study  of  Mr.  Tilden's  character 
the  question  is  not  how  in  fact,  did  Florida  and  Louisiana 
go  but  what  was  the  belief  of  Mr.  Tilde n  as  to  how  they 
went,  and  how  did  he  act  upon  his  belief  ? 

That  Mr.  Tilden  believed  sincerely  that  Hayes  was  not 
entitled  to  those  states  cannot  be  doubted  after  reading  Mr. 
Bigelow's  story  of  his  life  during  these  momentous  100  days. 

Thus  believing  and  believing  also  that  he  was  about  to  be 
defrauded  of  this  greatest  of  public  offices,  he  might  have 
resorted  to  fraud  or  to  force,  or  he  might  submit  patriotically, 
as  to  his  everlasting  credit  he  did  submit.  To  the  proposition 
that  the  judges  should  be  selected  by  lot  Mr.  Tilden  answered 
that  he  might  lose  the  presidency,  but  that  he  would  not 
raffle  for  it  (Letters,  Vol.  2,  p.  531). 

As  to  fraud,  the  outrageous  charge  denied  by  him  under 
oath  was  refuted  by  the  very  events  themselves.  As  was 
well  said  by  the  Bookman  (March,  1905,  p.  40) : 

"  The  facts  are  very  convincingly  summed  up  by  Mr. 
Tilden's  biographer,  Mr.  Bigelovv  : 

'  Only  one  vote  was  required  to  elect  Mr.  Tilden.  The 
votes  of  three  States  were  in  the  market,  and  at  a  price 
which  Tildeu  could  easily  have  paid.  Tilden  did  not  get 
that  vote.  Hayes  needed  the  votes  of  three  States.  All 
were  for  sale.  Hayes  got  them  all  and  was  elected,  and, 
within  six  months  after  his  inauguration  every  person  known 
to  have  been  concerned  in  securing  or  giving  those  votes, 
from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  received  an  office  or  the  offer 
of  one  from  Mr.  Hayes.' ' 

And  Mr.  Rhodes  justly  observes  (Vol.  7,  p.  244)  : 

"  Tilden's  course  in  these  matters  was  really  above  re 
proach." 

As  to  force,  but  a  single  word  from  Mr.  Tilden  was  needed 
and  as  shown  by  Mr.  Watterson  in  his  Century  Article,  the 
countryside  like  the  field  of  Jason  would  have  brought  forth 
men  and  possibly  (as  suggested  by  Mr.  Joseph  Pulitzer) 


24 

armed  men  in  multitudes  led  by  soldiers  and  generals 
conspicuous  for  ability  and  for  heroism  in  the  Union 
armies.  No  one  having  personal  knowledge  of  the  intense 
strain  in  those  four  months  preceding  March  4th,  1877,  can 
doubt  that  upon  a  call  from  Mr.  Tilden  thousands  upon 
thousands  of  his  supporters,  representing  a  majority  of  his 
countrymen,  an  enormous  majority  of  his  white  countrymen 
would  have  arisen  in  determined  assertion  of  his  rights.  (x) 

God's  mercy  and  Mr.  Tilden's  forbearance  alone  saved 
this  country  from  an  awful  outbreak. 

Like  the  philosopher  and  the  lawyer  that  he  was,  he 
devoted  himself  calmly  to  an  examination  of  precedents, 
to  the  preparation  of  arguments  and  to  conferences  with  his 
supporters.  In  his  view  only  Congress  acting  in  both  Houses 
jointly  could  count  the  vote.  Mr.  Hayes,  writing  to  John 
Sherman  (Recollections,  p.  56),  stated  that  he  believed  that 
the  Vice-Pi esident  alone  had  the  constitutional  power  to 
count  the  vote  and  to  declare  the  result.  This  position  was 
rendered  untenable  by  the  unanswerable  arguments  of 


( ! )  It  is  difficult  vividly  to  reproduce  the  sense  of  outrage  then  felt  by 
the  Tilden  supporters.  Just  now  (Feby.  11,  1914)  I  have  received  from 
one  of  the  most  eminent  of  the  clergyman  and  theologians  of  this  country? 
himself  a  soldier  in  the  Union  army  during  the  war  between  the  States,  a 
letter  from  which  I  make  the  following  extract:  "I  was  one  of  Mr- 
"  Tilden's  most  ardent  admirers  and  when  his  election  was  disputed  and 
"  Dr.  S —  remarked  to  me  that  peace  or  war  depended  on  Mr.  Tilden,  I 
u  replied  :  '  If  I  were  Mr.  Tilden  and  were  as  clearly  elected  as  he  is  I 
**  would  have  the  presidency  if  I  had  to  make  the  country  tremble  from 
"  one  end  to  the  other.'  " 

Intense  bitterness  of  feeling  had  developed  also  among  the  supporters 
of  Hayes.  Even  George  William  Curtis  who  was  destined  in  1884  to  con 
tribute  so  powerfully  to  bring  in  Grover  Cleveland  and  the  Democratic 
party,  could  hardly  find  words  in  1876  adequate  for  his  denunciation  of  the 
Democrats.  In  a  November  issue  of  Harper's  Weekly  he  contributed 
these  pleasant  words  of  pacification:  "It  is  not  easy  to  express  the 
contempt  which  an  intelligent  American  feels  for  those  Democrats  who 
having  always  defended  slavery  and  secession  now  talk  of  letting  by-gones 
be  by-gones  &c." 

Surely  the  atmosphere  was  charged  with  explosives. 


25 

Conkling  and  of  Edmunds  whose  party  spirit  in  this  instance 
yielded  to  his  superior  legal  instinct  about  to  discover  a  way 
of  happy  escape  through  his  invention  of  an  Electoral 
Commission  which,  however  disappointing  to  us,  still  must 
be  placed  principally  to  the  credit  of  Senator  Edmunds. 

When  finally  for  whatever  reason  both  houses  of  Congress 
had  united  in  counting  the  votes  for  Hayes  this  procedure 
was  accepted  by  Mr.  Tilden  as  final  for  reasons  set  forth 
by  John  Bigelow  in  a  letter  dated  May  2,  1880,  and  soon 
afterwards  published  in  the  "  Nashville  Banner." 

The  denial  of  his  right,  resting  on  a  popular  majority  of 
more  than  250,000,  was  no  surprise  to  Mr.  Tilden,  who  had 
held  the  opinion 

"  that  the  opposition  attempting  to  change  the  administra- 
"  tion  needed  to  include  at  least  two-thirds  of  the  voters  at 
*'  the  opening  of  the  canvass  in  order  to  retain  a  majority  at 
"  the  election."  (Life,  Vol.  II,  p.  269.) 

Contemplating  this  patriotic  attitude  of  Mr.  Tilden,  that 
wise  statesman  Senator  Elihu  Root,  in  his  Yale  Lecture  on 
the  Duties  and  Responsibilities  of  Citizenship  (N.  Y.  Sun 
May  21,  1907),  expressed  himself  as  follows  : 

"  It  has  always  seemed  to  me  that  Mr.  Tilden  pursued  a 
very  patriotic  and  commendable  course  when  the  election 
to  the  Presidency  was  in  question  between  him  and  Mr. 
Hayes  in  1876.  *  *  *  There  was  a  question  that  in 
evitably  would  have  resulted  in  civil  war  in  any  country 
where  the  personal  idea  was  predominant  in  politics,  and 
there  were  in  this  country  men  of  high  character  and 
standing  who  urged  that  Mr.  Tilden's  title  to  the  office 
should  be  asserted  by  armed  force,  but  he  was  decided  and 
immovable  in  the  position  that  he  would  permit  no  breach 
ol  the  peace  of  the  country  in  his  behalf,  whether  he  got  the 
Presidency  or  not.  The  question  was  finally  submitted  to 
a  special  court  devised  for  the  purpose,  and  the  court  by  a 
majority  of  one  decided  in  favor  of  Mr.  Hayes.  So  Mr. 
Tilden  lost  the  Presidency ;  but  he  gained  what  was  of  far 
greater  value— a  title  to  the  esteem  and  gratitude  of  all  good 
citizens.  He  probably  rendered  a  greater  and  more  per 
manent  public  service  than  by  anything  he  could  have  done 
as  President." 


26 

Notwithstanding  sharp  diversities  of  opinion  contem 
porary  and  historical,  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Tilden  in  the 
winter  of  1876-7,  seems  to  me  to  have  been  perfectly  con 
sistent  with  the  correct  principles  which  had  governed  his 
entire  political  life.  As  long  before  as  in  November,  1860, 
with  almost  passionate  earnestness  he  had  declared  to  a 
group  of  friends  : 

"  I  would  not  have  the  responsibility  of  William  Cullen 
"  Bryant  and  John  Bigelow  for  all  the  wealth  in  the  sub- 
"  treasury.  If  you  have  your  way  civil  war  will  divide  this 
"  country,  and  vou  will  see  blood  running  like  water  in  the 
"  streets  of  this" city  ".  (Life,  Vol.  1,  p.  154.) 

Responsibility  for  such  a  condition  he  could  not  assume 
in  1877  any  more  than  in  1860.  Love  of  the  Union  and 
horror  of  fratricidal  strife  dominated  his  entire  nature,  and 
he  had  to  obey  the  law  of  his  being.  His  course  was  justi 
fied  by  the  results  to  the  country.  The  Hayes  Administra 
tion  comprising  wise  men  of  foresight,  devoted  itself  to 
conciliating  the  Tilden  supporters  who,  as  already  ob 
served,  constituted  a  vast  majority  of  the  white  voters  of 
the  country.  The  Southern  States  were  pacified  and  rein 
vested  with  self  government.  The  Northern  Independents 
were  won  back  by  the  policies  of  civil  service  reform,  finan 
cial  reform  and  administrative  reform.  Thus  the  objects 
for  which  Mr.  Tilden  stood  were  gained  in  a  considerable 
degree,  though  he  lost  the  Presidency  for  which  he  was 
preferred  by  the  people. 

It  is  regrettable  that  the  country  and  especially  that  the 
Democratic  party  lost  the  benefits  and  the  education  that 
would  have  come  from  the  administration  of  an  executive 
officer  whose  service  would  have  been  prized  by  every  large 
corporation  in  the  country,  and  of  the  most  highly  developed 
political  philosopher  that  our  country  had  produced  since 
Thomas  Jefferson.  Nevertheless,  the  conciliatory  course  of 
the  Hayes  Administration  proved  so  acceptable  as  to  justify 
a  remark  made  to  me  in  1880  at  the  Cincinnati  Convention 


27 

by  a  democratic  leader  :  "  The  Hayes  Administration  has 
"  made  it  difficult  and  probably  impossible  for  us  to  win." 

Endeavoring  justly  to  estimate  the  self-restraint  and  the 
patriotic  self-effacement  of  Mr.  Tilden  in  this  national 
crisis,  I  have  been  led  to  wonder  what  would  have  been  the 
action  and  the  consequences  of  the  action  of  Mr.  Elaine  or 
of  Colonel  lloosevelt  had  either  of  them  been  similarly  cir 
cumstanced.  (l) 

Thus  ended  the  political  activities  of  Mr.  Tilden,  for 
though  twice  again,  in  1880  and  in  1884,  he  was  sought  by  his 
party  as  its  candidate,  he  felt  himself  physically  unfit  to 
meet  the  tremendous  exactions  of  a  campaign,  and  to 
undertake  the  ceaseless  toil,  inseparable  from  the  proper 
discharge  of  the  duties  of  public  office  as  conceived  by  him. 
In  each  year  he  wrote  a  letter  declining  to  be  considered  in 
connection  with  the  nomination. 

In  the  Cincinnati  Convention  in  1880  his  letter  (Life, 
Vol.  II,  p.  266)  produced  a  profound  sensation,  Mr.  Abram 
S.  Hewitt  stating  in  my  hearing,  that  upon  such  a  decla 
ration  the  Democracy  was  bound  to  nominate  Mr.  Tilden, 
and  if  he  were  to  die  during  the  campaign  then  to  vote  for 
his  memory,  as  was  done  in  1872  by  some  Georgia  Electors 
in  the  case  of  Horace  Greeley  after  his  death. 

In  anticipation  of  the  Chicago  Convention  of  1884  Mr. 
Tilden  published  a  letter  of  final  withdrawal  (Life,  Vol.  II, 
p.  282),  a  letter  which,  as  justly  observed  by  the  New  York 
Times,  was  an  act  of  unselfishness,  of  great  moment  and  of 
promise,  for  otherwise  he  would  have  been  nominated  with- 


(*)  To  avoid  any  possible  misconstruction  of  my  position,  if  that  be  of 
consequence,  I  may  be  permitted  to  state  that,  in  my  opinion,  after  the 
declaration  of  the  result  accoiding  to  the  vote  of  both  Houses  of  Congress, 
Mr.  Hayes  held  the  office  of  President  by  a  title  legally  unimpeachable, 
though  based  upon  frauds  beyond  correction.  I  readily  acknowledge  that 
had  Mr.  Tilden  been  seated,  the  supporters  of  Mr.  Hayes  generally  would 
have  felt  that  the  Presidency  had  been  stolen  by  force.  I  desired  and, 
despite  my  disappointment,  I  still  am  satisfied  with,  the  peaceable  solu 
tion  of  the  difficulties. 


28 

out  dissent,  and  as  his  party  believed  with  assurance  of 
success  at  the  polls. 

The  closing  paragraph  of  that  letter  was  worthy  of 
Seneca  or  of  any  other  classic  sage  : 

"  Having  given  to  their  welfare  whatever  of  health  and 
"  strength  I  possessed  or  could  borrow  from  the  future,  and 
"  having  reached  the  term  of  my  capacity  for  such  labors 
"  as  their  welfare  now  demands,  I  but  submit  to  the  will  of 
"  God,  in  deeming  my  public  career  forever  closed." 

Once  and  only  once  again,  in  December,  1885,  did  he 
address  the  general  public  through  a  letter  to  Speaker  Car 
lisle,  making  a  powerful  and  effective  plea  for  strengthen 
ing  our  coast  defences  ;  a  plea  afterwards  reinforced  by  the 
action  of  President  Cleveland,  and  his  Secretary  of  War, 
Judge  Endicott.* 

But  his  interest  in  the  public  and  in  his  beloved  city  of 
New  York  were  still  to  be  manifested  in  a  way  and  to  an 
extent  amazing  to  those  who  had  been  accustomed  to 
regard  him  merely  as  a  selfish  accumulator  of  money  for 
his  own  selfish  ends.  During  his  years  of  retirement  at 
Greystone,  his  country  home,  he  was  planning  how  best  to 
confer  upon  the  people  of  this  city  the  benefits  of  a  gift 
larger  than  any  up  to  that  time  made  by  any  benefactor, 
unless  possibly  Mr.  James  Lenox.  His  entire  re 
siduary  estate  amounting  to  about  $4,000,000  was 
destined  for  the  public  good.  Unhappily  his  testa 
mentary  provision  to  thin  effect  was  set  aside  by  the 
Courts,  once  more  by  a  majority  of  one,  and  upon 
grounds  which  in  the  judgment  of  learned  lawyers  like  Dean 
Ames  of  the  Harvard  Law  School  were  deemed  insufficient 
(Lectures  on  Legal  History,  p.  283).  However,  thanks  to 

*The  regrettable  coolness  that  developed  between  Mr.  Tilden  and 
President  Cleveland  is  not  a  matter  for  surprise.  One  who  has  been 
acknowledged  leader  does  not  readily  welcome  displacement  or  cordially 
consider  the  one  who  seems  to  be  in  his  place.  A  similar  condition 
marked  the  relations  of  Fremont  to  Lincoln  and  of  Roosevelt  to  Taft. 
Mr.  Wilson  and  Mr.  Bryan  in  the  cordiality  of  their  intercourse  greatly 
to  their  credit  have  established  a  precedent. 


29 

the  filial  disposition  of  his  great  niece  Mrs.  Laura  Pelton 
Hazard  an  arrangement  was  effected  whereby  more  than 
$2,000,000  was  provided  out  of  her  share  for  the  Tilden 
Trust,  now  forming  part  of  the  New  York  Public  Library. 
The  practical  benefit  of  that  institution  is  indicated  by  the 
statement  of  its  director  to  me,  that  it  is  used  by  more 
readers  than  any  other  public  library  in  the  world. 

To  the  end  as  at  the  beginning  Mr.  Tilden  was  a  phil 
osopher,  an  idealist  and  in  some  sense  a  mystic.  As  acutely 
observed  by  Mr.  Watterson  "  He  was  a  dreamer  with  a 
genius  for  business,  a  philosopher,  yet  an  organizer."  His 
inner  soul  and  purpose  was  disclosed  in  his  letter  to  the 
Cincinnati  Convention  (Public  Writing  Vol.  2,  503)  when 
he  wrote : 

"  Through  the  whole  period  of  my  relation  to  the  presi- 
"  dency  I  did  everything  in  my  power  to  elevate,  and  noth- 
4t  ing  to  lower  moral  standards  in  the  competition  of  the 
"  parties." 

This  was  in  accord  with  his  standard  of  personal  conduct. 
Base  and  vulgar  detractions  of  political  adversaries  in  and 
out  of  his  own  party  ignored  the  fact  that  his  associations 
never  were  with  the  base  and  vulgar,  but  always  with 
men  of  the  highest  character.  Noscitur  a  sociis.  His  trust 
ing  and  trusted  friends  were  Bryant  and  Bigelow  and 
O'Conor,  and  Carter  and  Oswald  Ottendorfer  and  Andrew 
H.  Green  and  William  Allen  Butler,  from  whose  Memorial 
delivered  at  the  request]of  the  New  York  City  Bar  Associa 
tion  upon  December  14th,  1886,  I  quote  the  following 
testimonial  of  professional  esteem  : 

"  It  is  a  duty  as  well  as  a  privilege  within  our  own  circle 
"  to  assert  his  claim  to  the  respect  and  gratitude  of  his 
"  brethren  of  the  bar  and  of  the  community  at  large,  in 
"  those  matters  as  to  which  we  speak  what  we  know  and 
"  testify  what  we  have  seen.  In  the  rush  of  events  and 
"  especially  in  the  ever  recurring  struggles  with  present 
"  wrong-doing,  public  and  private,  we  are  apt  to  be  for- 
"  getful  of  past  dangers  and  past  deliverances,  and  of  the 
'*  work  of  those  by  whom  the  deliverances  were  wrought. 
"  It  is  in  the  retrospect  of  the  great  public  peril  which 
"  summoned  Mr.  Tilden  to  aid  in  the  rescue  of  the  State 


30 

"  and  of  the  peculiar  service  which  he  gave  with  unselfish 
"  and  untiring  fidelity  and  with  full  success,  that  we  find 
"  as  in  a  focus,  the  converging  force  and  radiance  of  his  best 
"  faculties  and  gifts ;  a  cheering  and  guiding  light,  un- 
"  obscured  and  inextinguishable." 

And,  again,  having  reference  to  Mr.  Tilden's  conscien 
tious  thoroughness  ;  a  trait  and  a  habit  indicating  integrity 
of  character,  Mr.  Butler  thus  commented  upon  the  harmo 
nious  consistency  of  Mr.  Tilden's  intellectual  activities. 

"  The  same  habit  he  brought  into  his  private  affairs, 
"  his  professional  work  and  his  political  activities.  Alike 
"  to  all  objects  which  engrossed  him  he  gave  the  whole  of 
"  his  intellectual  capacity,  all  the  energy  of  his  will  and  the 
"  full  measure  of  his  physical  strength.  He  had  a  per- 
"  sistence  which  was  more  than  perseverance,  and  a  faculty 
"  of  adhesion  to  the  main  purpose  in  view,  and  of  reaching 
"  it  by  discussion,  by  investigation,  and  by  all  means  of 
"  possible  solution,  which  exhausted  the  powers  and  the 
"  patience  of  every  one  but  himself." 

William  Cullen  Bryant's  high  regard  for  Mr.  Tilden  is 
shown  in  his  letter  of  August  28, 1876,  to  Mr.  Bigelow  (Life 
of  Bryant,  Yol.  2,  p.  376),  as  follows  : 

"  It  gives  me  great  pain  to  refuse  anything  to  the  friend 
of  a  man  whom  I  esteem  and  honor  as  I  do  Mr.  Tilden,  and 
whom  I  know  to  be  so  highly  accomplished  for  the  most 
eminent  political  station  ;  whose  opinions  of  the  proper 
province  and  objects  of  legislation  have  been  formed  in  the 
same  school  as  my  own,  and  who,  so  far  as  his  party  will 
not  obstruct  him,  will  I  am  sure  act  not  only  with  ability 
and  integrity  but  with  wisdom  in  any  station  to  which  the 
voice  of  his  countrymen  may  call  him." 

But  for  a  comprehensive  appreciation  of  his  character  by 
one  of  the  most  commanding  personalities  of  the  American 
bar  distinguished  alike  for  his  virtues  and  his  talents 
nothing  can  be  more  instructive  than  the  tribute  by  James 
C.  Carter  published  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  for  October, 
1892,  and  republished  by  Mr.  Bigelow  in  the  Letters  and 
Literary  Memorials  (Vol.  1,  p.  xi.).  I  extract  but  a  single 
sentence  from  an  extended  article  worthy  of  complete  con 
sideration. 

"  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  Governor  Tilden  possessed 
"  on  the  whole  greater  capabilities  for  usefulness  in  public 


31 

"  life  than  any  other  man  of  his  generation.  I  cannot  find 
"  anywhere  else  such  a  union  of  the  ability  to  discover  true 
"  governmental  policies  with  the  firm  and  undeviating  pur- 
"  pose  to  pursue  them.  *  *  *  I  do  not  tbink  tbat  any 
"  other  public  man  of  his  time  was  more  faithful  to  his 
"  conception  of  truth." 

Again  I  observe  :  What  a  pity  that  the  nation  could  not 
have  had  the  benefit  of  the  public  service  of  such  a  citizen  ! 

In  his  professional,  and  in  his  business  life,  his  pre 
eminence  was  not  less  pronounced  than  in  his  public  career. 

During  the  decade  of  the  sixties  and  earlier  Mr. 
Tilden  was  a  pioneer  and  a  leader  in  the  development 
of  the  railways  and  of  the  resources  of  the  Middle  West 
especially  in  Ohio,  in  Indiana,  in  Illinois  and  Upper 
Michigan.  "  More  than  half  of  the  great  railways  north 
of  the  Ohio  and  between  the  Hudson  and  Missouri  Kivers 
were  at  some  time  his  clients"  (Life,  Vol.  1,  p.  143).  His 
legal  acumen  and  foresight  in  matters  of  corporate  reorganiza 
tion  then  without  precedents  are  indicated  in  his  letters  to 
his  friend  Mr.  Justice  SWAYNE  (Letters,  Vol.  1,  pp.  129-141  ; 
Public  Writings,  Vol.  1,  p.  592),  with  whom  he  was  cooperat 
ing,  and  in  his  association  with  John  Sherman,  who  referr 
ing  to  this  period  says  (Recollections,  Vol.  1,  p.  551)  : 

"  I  knew  Mr.  Tilden  personally  and  very  favorably  as  we 
were  members  of  a  board  of  railroad  directors  which  fre 
quently  met." 

The  public  value  of  such  services  is  overlooked  so  fre 
quently  that  it  is  fitting  to  quote  from  the  appreciative 
letter  addressed  to  Mr.  Tilden  under  date  of  November  27, 
1880,  by  the  venerable  and  Reverend  Dr.  A.  T.  McGill,  the 
Senior  Professor  of  the  Princeton  Theological  Seminary 
(Letters,  Vol.  2,  p.  606)  : 

"  I  cannot  refrain  from  writing  to  you  as  I  often  desired 
to  do  in  the  past,  to  testify  my  respect  and  admiration 
alike  when  you  were  covered  with  merited  honors  and  per 
secuted  with  unmerited  obloquy  *  *  *  .  I  am  indebted 
to  you  for  the  surpassing  ability  and  probity,  with  which  in 
connection  with  Lanier  you  saved  my  savings  which  I  had 


32 

invested  in  the  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  now  The  Wayne 
Railroad.  It  was  therefore  my  duty  when  you  were  abused 
by  various  lying  papers  on  every  occasion  to  tell  ray  own 
personal  knowledge  of  the  rare  integrity  with  which  you 
secured  to  a  multitude  of  poor  men  what  we  thought  was- 
lost  in  the  bankruptcy  of  that  great  road." 

The  personal  side  of  Mr.  Tilden  often  is  touched  upon  by 
Mr.  Bigelow,  in  such  wise  to  reveal  him,  as  in  truth  he  was, 
a  man  of  patience,  bearing  many  burdens  of  which  not  all 
originated  outside  of  his  own  family  (Letters,  Vol.  1,  p.  327  ; 
Bigelow's  Retrospections,  Vol.  5,  pp.  395-402).  Though 
often  reviled,  he  reviled  not  again,  and  he  refrained  from 
speaking  ill  of  others  (Life,  Vol.  L,  pp.  389-390;  Vol.  II., 
p.  389).  He  was  capable  of  great  tenderness  as  in  his  let 
ters  to  his  sister  (Life,  Vol.  L,  pp.  80-84),  of  romantic 
friendship  as  suggested  in  his  will  (Article  xxii.,  Life, 
Vol.  2,  p.  426),  and  of  high  idealism,  as  shown  in  his  letter 
to  Mrs.  Franklin  Chase  (Letters,  Vol.  1,  pp.  68-72)  upon 
which  referring  to  the  two  volumes  of  the  letters  "  The 
Outlook"  commented  as  follows  (15  Aug.,  1908) : 

"  For  one  thing,  his  disinterestedness  stands  plainly 
revealed  in  his  own  correspondence  and  in  that  of  his 
friends.  So,  too,  does  his  lofty  earnestness,  which  is 
nowhere  better  indicated  than  in  a  letter  he  wrote  at  the 
age  of  thirty-six.  '  My  disposition,'  he  observes,  '  is  not 
to  permit  merely  private  business  to  engross  me,  nor 
to  be  in  any  of  an  unprofessional  nature  which  creates 
anxiety.  I  have  never  been  accustomed  to  surrender 
to  it  my  inner  life,  or  to  allow  its  cares  to 
fill  those"  little  interstices  between  actual  occupa 
tion  which  are  instinctively  given  to,  and  which 
characterize,  our  ruling  habits  of  thought  and  feeling. 
There  no  doubt  is  danger,  as  the  relations  of  business 
multiply  around  us,  and  our  enthusiasm  for  public  objects 
is  qualified  or  weakened,  and  our  sympathies  often  come 
back  upon  us  as  the  chilled  blood  returns  from  the  extrem 
ities  to  the  heart,  that  what  furnishes  occupation  to  our 
activity  without  the  trouble  of  seeking  it,  and  without 
making  us  inquire  whether  we  choose  it,  will  grow  too 
much  upon  our  attention.  But  I  desire  to  reserve  some 
thing  to  better  purposes— something  to  friends  and  to^  my 
self,  and  possibly,  if  hereafter  I  can  recall  the  enthusiasm 


oo  . ,    . 

OO  •>,•""  j  , '    '    '    ',    ' ,   '  /  J  > 

of  early  years,  with  a  share  of  its  former  strength  and  stead 
iness,  something  to  consecrate  life  by  a  sense  that  it  has 
not  been  wholly  given  to  objects  so  selfishly  egotistical  as 
are  most  of  those  which  we  pursue.'  (To  Mrs.  Franklyn 
Chase,  29  Nov.  '50.  1  Letters,  p.  71.) 

"  Read  in  the  light  of  Tilden's  after  career — of  his  work 
as  leader  in  the  impeachment  proceedings  against  Barnard 
and  Cardozo,  in  the  Tweed  prosecutions  generally,  in  the 
fight  against  the  Canal  Ring,  arid  in  the  manner  of  his  ac 
ceptance  of  the  verdict  of  the  Electoral  Commission  with 
holding  the  Presidency  from  him — the  absolute  sincerity 
and  vital  significance  of  this  letter  are  unmistakable.  It 
aids  in  the  understanding  both  of  Tilden's  conduct  of  life 
and  of  the  seemingly  extravagant  esteem  in  which  he  was 
held  by  his  intimate  friends." 

His  recreation  was  found  chiefly  in  riding  and  driving 
and  in  books.  The  list  of  the  800  volumes  read  to  him  in 
his  last  four  years  (Life,  Yol.  2,  pp.  348 ;  410-419)  is  sur 
prising  in  its  range.  Like  Samuel  Pepys,  as  observed  by 
Robert  Louis  Stevenson,  he  seems  to  have  had  "  an  insatiable 
curiosity  in  the  things  of  knowledge."  Frugal  and  simple  in 
his  habits  and  expenditures  (Life,  Vol.  2,  p.  384)  he  gave 
liberally  to  private  charities,  nearly  as  much  as  all  others 
to  the  fight  against  Tweed  (Public  Writings,  Vol.  1,  p.  595) 
and  generally  more  than  anyone  else  to  political  causes  (l) 
(Life,  Vol.  2,  p.  392). 


C1)  In  a  non-presidential  canvass  after  1876  (as  I  was  told  at  the  time 
by  Mr.  W.  C.  Whitney)  Mr.  Tilden  had  given  more  than  $150,000  to  make 
an  effective  canvass  and  to  get  out  the  voters  and  to  bring  them  to  the 
polls  in  the  3,000  election  districts  of  New  York  State.  Such  a  sum  could 
be  spent  legitimately  for  these  purposes.  In  a  rural  county  one  of  the 
"workers"  of  1876,  referring  to  that  election,  afterwards  said  to  me 
'  There  was  plenty  of  money  then  for  early  carriages,  but  little  for  late 
ones."  Such  was  his  usual  exaction  of  others.  "Whenever  you  leave 
to  go  anywhere  for  me,  take  the  first  train,  not  the  second,"  were  his  in 
structions  to  his  business  agents,  as  one  of  them  told  me.  For  himself 
ne  was  a  procrastinator  on  principle  "  I  do  to-day  nothing  that  can  just 
"  as  well  wait,  for  to-morrow  may  show  that  it  were  better  left  undone." 

The  latter  day  increase  in  the  scale  of  political  expenditures  is  shown 
by  the  subscription  (Letters,  Vol.  1,  p.  245)  for  the  democratic  presiden 
tial  canvass  of  1868  when  $80,000  was  raised  by  contributions  of  $10,000 
each  by  Mr.  Tilden,  Mr.  O'Couor  and  six  others. 


34 

His  life  covered  the  stormiest  period  in  the  history  of  our 
republic.  Born  during  one  war  he  lived  through  two  others, 
and  he  participated  in  the  struggles  against  nullification, 
against  slavery  extension,  against  secession,  against  recon 
struction,  and  against  public  frauds.  No  other  man  can  be 
recalled  who  during  so  long  a  period  touched  more  import 
antly  or  more  variously  the  political  activities  of  his  native 
State.  Out  of  this  long  and  active  public  life,  he  emerged 
without  any  just  cause  of  reproach  upon  his  character  with 
a  large  fortune,  accumulated  mainly  for  the  benefit  of  the 
public,  and  with  overwhelming  right  to  the  gratitude  of  his 
countrymen. 

His  fellow  citizens  do  well  to  gather  in  commemoration  of 
his  great  career  and  his  great  civic  virtues  ;  and  well  may  we 
recall  what  Mr.  Bigelow  justly  terms  the  noble  lines  of 
Whittier. 

"  Once  more  O  all  adjusting  Death 
"  The  Nation's  Pantheon  opens  wide 
"  Once  more  a  common  sorrow  saith 
"  A  strong  wise  man  has  died. 

"  Faults  doubtless  he  had.     Had  we  not 
"  Our  own  to  question  and  asperse, 
"  The  worth  we  doubted  or  forgot 
"  Until  we  stood  beside  his  hearse  ? 

"  Ambitious,  cautious  yet  the  man 

"  To  strike  down  fraud  with  resolute  hand  ; 

"  A  patriot,  if  a  partisan 

"  He  loved  his  native  land. 

"  So  let  the  mourning  bells  be  rung 
"  The  banner  droop  its  folds  half-way 
"  And  let  the  public  pen  and  tongue 
"  Their  fitting  tribute  pay. 

"  Then  let  us  vow  above  his  bier 
"  To  set  our  feet  on  party  ties 
"  And  wound  no  more  a  living  ear 
"  With  words  that  death  denies." 

[11060J 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 

AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


HOV  12  193* 

»*- 
+? 

WAY  29  1845 

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> 

t'BRAPy  USF 

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ft  f  ft  f%    -  . 

y** 

™  J5  I960 

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'          :         ::- 
•                                                                  __1_J* 

1G6    197456 


LD  21-100m-8,'34 


YC  50608 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


